Having a whale of a time

Alex Hales played the first three balls of Roleof van der Merwe’s over quietly back down the pitch. It felt like he had signalled the end for Nottinghamshire. It marked a sea-change in his approach. Until then his batting had been belligerent and had threatened to become devastating. It had reminded me of something someone said on the Somerset supporters’ coach on the way up: “We don’t want to see 30 overs of Alex Hales batting.” Azhar Ali seemed to sense the change as he shouted encouragement to van der Merwe. The change in Hales’ approach was startling. Until then he had tried to dominate the Somerset bowling at every opportunity. He had demonstrated the capacity to take control of the match. The fear of the Somerset supporter was that, unchecked he would do precisely that. Now he was feeling his way, perhaps giving himself time to re-assess the situation after Ben Duckett had announced himself by mishitting van der Merwe to Craig Overton who took a finely judged catch right on the rope. Nottinghamshire found themselves 125 for 3 in the 20th over still needing another 213 with the required run rate rising past seven and a half.

During the interval between innings some I spoke to thought Somerset’s 337 as much as 30 short of what they might have scored after six wickets had fallen for 62 runs in the latter third of the innings. Those wickets had come as Somerset tried to accelerate and some of them had suggested acceleration might not be straightforward on that pitch. Now, as Nottinghamshire needed to accelerate they found themselves in a similar situation but with the pressure of nearly 340 runs bearing down in them. Perhaps Hales’ sudden introspection, as it became apparent that his wicket was now fundamental to Nottinghamshire’s hopes of success, signalled that Somerset had posted an above par score.

What had impressed about the Somerset batting, and was to impress about their bowling and fielding, was the sense of intent and belief it embodied. The Somerset heart always fears the fall of a wicket at the next ball. Here that feeling was countered by one that sensed the team was in control of the situation, at least as far as that is possible in sport. Banton’s innings, in spite of his usual brushes with batting mortality at the outset, an edge just short of second slip to the fore, exuded confidence and certainty of purpose. Azhar was, at least to the onlooker, a sea of calm which would have been envied by any philosopher.

Asked to bat by Nottinghamshire Somerset started, as has become their fashion, with watchful circumspection. Then, the job sized, Banton began to assemble his innings with his usual certainty and variety of stroke, increasingly and then devastatingly finding the boundary. A cover drive off Fletcher played with minimal backlift which seemed to start slowly and then accelerate to the boundary signalled his intentions. Two more off side drives and a pull, all off Ball, built up the momentum which rose to a crescendo in Carter’s second, and last, over of off breaks, bowled as the last over of the first powerplay. The first two balls were driven high over long on for six. The third was swept so violently it burst through short fine leg’s hands far enough for two runs to be taken. The fourth was slog-swept for six and the final ball was reverse swept through point for four. 24 runs in the over, a key part of the Nottinghamshire attack effectively removed from the game and Nottinghamshire served notice that Somerset meant business.

Whilst the eyes were on Banton, Azhar was making an impact in his own way. Less emphatic, perhaps barely noticed, ‘under the radar’ to use the modern parlance, but equally effective. In the end his strike rate was barely less than Banton’s and he kept the Somerset door closed to the Nottinghamshire attack whilst Banton opened the Nottinghamshire door to Somerset.

When Banton left, pushing forward and caught behind off Gurney for 59, Somerset were 93 for 1 after 14 overs. Azhar and Trego continued Somerset’s advance almost seamlessly as they pushed forward. The whirlwind impression that Banton had portrayed was gone but steadily, intently, they kept the pressure on Nottinghamshire who must have been beginning to question the wisdom of asking Somerset to bat. The sixes stopped flying, with the exception of a slog sweep off Patel from Trego, the fours made up less of the mix but the partnership was driven forward by ones and twos constantly searched for. They were hard run where necessary and driven occasionally by a “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” from Trego. By such a mix was the scoreboard hurried along at nearly seven an over.

Somerset reached 183 for 1 with nearly 22 overs still to come. Perhaps the batsmen decided the time had come to build the total faster still, for Azhar, out of character from the rest of his innings, seemed to signal a step change in tempo by trying to whip Ball behind square and lost his middle stump. A scoop for two and a one-handed pull behind square apart, his innings had been built on orthodoxy and safety but alertness to opportunity and positiveness of stroke. A back foot drive for four off Gurney and a razor sharp cut behind square off Ball hurtle through the mind. 72 from 71 balls as a foundation to the innings was a contribution worthy of an overseas player.

Trego, buccaneer by batting reputation and often by fact, now carried the Azhar role forward whilst the batsmen around him flared and burned as they tried to increase the run rate in the heat of a resurgent Nottinghamshire attack and some determined fielding, particularly on the boundary. Hildreth, off his third ball, tried to pull a short ball forward of square but succeeded only in returning it to the bowler. Two wickets in an over for Ball to the relieved applause of the ever-growing Nottinghamshire crowd, too many now to accurately assess by eye but it must have been significantly in excess of 5000. 185 for 3.

Abell joined with Trego in the constant push for singles and twos or a boundary where it could be found. Then he seemed to look beyond that for acceleration as he scooped Fletcher for four. Fletcher is as skilful and experienced a bowler as you are likely to find and when Abell repeated the stroke off the next ball Fletcher found the edge and Moores, behind the stumps, duly caught the ball. Abell 18. Somerset 227 for 4. When Bartlett stepped away to drive Mullaney off only his second ball Somerset were 228 for 5 in the 36th over and Somerset’s attempt to take the game away from Nottinghamshire was at risk of foundering.

The Nottinghamshire crowd were now in full flow, chattering joyfully in the glow of their team’s successes in the sunshine which lit up the ground, and exploding into cheering at the fall of a wicket as they sensed their team were pushing their way back into the game. And yet perhaps the seeds of doubt should have been sewn for it was in the act of trying to accelerate the score, rather in the way of the sort of run chase on which Nottinghamshire might need to embark, that the Somerset batsmen were losing their wickets.

Gregory emerged and started to play the ferocious attacking innings for which he is fast developing a reputation. A huge six, straight, onto the first terrace, second or third storey, of the modern centrepiece of the Radcliffe Road Stand and another over midwicket were cleanly and ferociously hit. But a high, looping miscue out of reach of the closing fielders, a badly under-hit drive straight into, and out of, the hands of Mullaney at mid-off and a general sense that he was sometimes not quite connecting as he normally does in this sort of situation raised a question about just how many runs there were in 50 overs on this pitch. It did not Somerset trying to press further forward.

Perhaps the pressure to increase the tempo contributed to the running out of Trego who had been looking as if he might bat through the innings. Gregory played Mullaney towards mid-on with no power in the stroke. There was a call for a run, a call of “No!”, Mullaney rushed across, gathered the ball, swivelled and hit the stumps with Trego still two yards short of regaining his ground. Trego 73 from 72 balls. Somerset 252 for 6 with ten overs still to use. When, five overs later, both Gregory (37), caught on the boundary, and van der Merwe (11), caught miscuing to mid-off were out in the same over Somerset were 289 for 8. The Nottinghamshire crowd were rapturous and wreathed with smiles to match the sunny weather for as far along the stand as I could see, and on the big screen too. 289 for 8 from 183 for 1 was a significant return for them.

As at Worcester, where the Somerset innings had followed a very similar pattern, it was Craig and Jamie Overton who finally carried Somerset forward to somewhere near the land that the innings of Banton, Azhar and Trego had promised. Both managed to clear the leg side boundary but they added 47 runs whilst only reaching the boundary on two other occasions. They took Somerset to within a run of their eventual 337 before Jamie Overton and then Davey were run out going for impossible runs off the last two balls of the innings.

“We should have got 380,” was the first comment I received form a Somerset supporter on my lunchtime circumnavigation. “The pitch looks very flat.” Even I had thought that when I looked at it although my reputation for misreading pitches by looking at them is well-established. “I thought it had a bit of Worcester about it,” I replied, based on the way the Somerset batsmen had struggled to accelerate in the last third of the innings and had tended to be caught off miscues when they did.”

It was a generous gesture of Nottinghamshire to allow such a large crowd access to the outfield in the interval. Large numbers, including me took advantage of it. It reflected the warmth demonstrated by stewards when they were required – they were virtually invisible when not – and by the Nottinghamshire crowd. An unusually high proportion of the crowd were of school age and negotiating your way out to the middle through a forest of overlapping cricket matches and flying balls was a welcome throwback to an earlier age. Nottinghamshire are clearly doing something right. Perhaps, in addition to the weather and the Sunday weekend fixture £12 adult advance tickets and the availability of family tickets had something to do with it.

Nottinghamshire did not top their group by accident and they set about overhauling the Somerset total with a purpose, scoring at near the required rate. Then, with their score on 38, Joe Clarke, in a manner reminiscent of a number of Somerset dismissals miscued and drove Craig Overton straight into the chest of Azhur at short mid-on. This brought Hales to the wicket to huge applause from the Nottinghamshire crowd perhaps wishing to show their support following recent publicity.

He and Slater continued to drive Nottinghamshire forward, moving at only a fraction below the required rate and steadily closing the DLS gap opened up by the loss of Clarke. Hales began to demonstrate the quality of his batting. A drive back past the stumps off Craig Overton and a straight six off Davey left no doubt of his capabilities. It was not just the strokes but the manner of them. There was something about his poise and the ease with which he struck the ball which inspired confidence in the Nottinghamshire crowd and anxiety in the Somerset one as those 30 overs feared on the supporters’ coach began to pick at the mind.

Slater too showed his class as he turned Davey neatly to the boundary and pulled Jamie Overton, and then drove him through extra cover, in the same over, both times for four. The singles and twos though the batsmen seemed to find much harder to come by than Somerset had done. The Somerset fielders fielded every ball as if winning the match depended upon it as, in a close-run match, it very well might. This was fielding over and above the normal professionalism of the first-class cricketer. This was fielding driven by passion for the Somerset cause, or so it looked to me. “NO!” was a frequent cry killing off a speculative start to a run. Often the fielding was so sharp a run was not even speculated about. That sort of fielding builds pressure because the ball has to be sent to the boundary to sustain a challenge.

Perhaps the constant need for boundaries, contributed to the loss of Slater’s wicket. He drove at Jamie Overton, bowling with pace and accuracy sufficient to make him the most economical of the Somerset pace bowlers. He is a joy to watch. The epitome of ‘putting your heart into it’. When he bowls as he did here it lifts the heart. The ball flew low towards mid-off where another piece of sharp fielding found van der Merwe, who knows how to do nothing but put his heart into it, diving low to his left and taking the catch just above the ground. Slater 58 from 60 balls, Nottinghamshire 110 for 2 in the 18th over. Then came Duckett’s miscue, Nottinghamshire 125 for 3, and the sudden stagnation of Hales’ innings. Within four overs the required rate rose from just over seven an over to nearly eight. The increasingly loud response of the crowd to the boundaries of Slater and Hales slid into a nervous chatter.

Craig Overton returned to replace Gregory and bounced Hales who, perhaps forced by the rising pressure into playing a less than controlled stroke, tried to chip the ball over the slip area, edged to Banton who reached for and took a good high catch. The Somerset fielding was at such a pitch in this match it never occurred, even to this worrisome Somerset supporter, that Banton would miss the catch. Hales 54 from 51 balls. Nottinghamshire 131 for 4, still 207 runs short of their target, with nearly half their overs gone. The Nottinghamshire crowd were stunned, Somerset supporters, dotted about, were clearly identifiable by the scattered points of applause and cheering, and the Somerset players were in an exultant huddle. The unanimously high valuation on the Hales wicket was clear for all to see.

So constrained had the Nottinghamshire batsmen become that Samit Patel, so often a thorn in the Somerset side, scored just three runs from 17 balls. It was as if Nottinghamshire had suffered a sudden loss of direction after the Slater wicket. Difficult to credit with just two wickets down but the intensity of the Somerset performance and the precision of its attack and fielding were such that perhaps the loss of a key wicket in the face of it opened the door to doubt.

Mullaney and Moores tried to retrieve the situation for Nottinghamshire. It looked a concerted effort as they strained to break out but they managed just three boundaries and 30 runs in six overs as the Somerset net closed and the required rate rose towards nine an over. Abell even felt confident enough to remove a fielder from run-saving duties and bring him into the slips to deter the batsmen from steering the ball through third man. When Moores struck van der Merwe straight back over his head the ball threatened to clear the rope but Jamie Overton hurtled along the boundary from long off and caught the ball high over his head. It was phenomenally spirited boundary run, a phenomenal catch and a perfect example of what Nottinghamshire were up against.

It remained only for Mullaney to try to flick Davey behind square and be bowled and for Fletcher, all the pressure off, to hit some mighty sixes to score 43 from 31 balls before Carter pulled Azhar Ali to Bartlett on the boundary and Fletcher final succumbed to Gregory, caught by Azhar Ali. I cannot recall where he was caught and my notes end abruptly because I was by then on my feet applauding a Somerset performance which might properly qualify for the much overused word, ‘awesome’.

I had left home at 5.15 that morning and returned at about 10.00 in the evening. A long day as they say and nearly seven hours of it spent sitting on a coach. But it was a day in which I saw a match played at an intensity and in an atmosphere which brought back memories of those great quarter and semi-final set-pieces of old. And such a match had Somerset won convincingly. It was a match arranged at less than a week’s notice and yet it attracted a crowd of thousands which, to my eye represented, in gender and age, a pretty full cross-section of society and, as far as I could see, everyone, leaving the result aside, was having a whale of a time.

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‘Farmer White’ Somerset Cricket Writing

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‘Farmer White’

17th March 2019

‘Farmer White’

‘Farmer White’, the author of this site, was brought up on the story of one of Somerset’s greatest cricketers, JC ‘Farmer’ White; of how his slow left arm bowling was the epitome of accuracy and that he captained England.

An indelible impression was made and, as indelible impressions do, it has remained with him.

When, at the end of the 2016 season, he began to post reports and occasional articles and poems on threads on grockles.com and needed a posting name ‘Farmer White’ was the natural choice.

JC ‘Farmer’ White 1891-1961

JC ‘Jack’ or ‘Farmer’ White played for Somerset CCC from 1907-37. He captained the side from 1927-31.

He remains the County’s leading First Class wicket taker with 2167 at an average of 18.02. He took 100 First Class wickets in a season 14 times.

With the bat he scored six centuries and scored 1000 runs in a season twice.

He took 381 catches.

He played in 15 Tests for England and captained England four times.

In the 1928-9 Ashes series he was England’s top wicket taker with 25.

In the Adelaide Test he took 13 for 256 in 124.5 overs and England won by 12 runs.

‘FARMER WHITE’ ON CRICKET

To locate the post in which a quote appears click the post title located immediately beneath the quote.

“And then, as at the end of the last match of every season, there was the reluctance of many to leave their seats as they watched, across an empty outfield, the memories of the season past. Better memories for Somerset supporters than for Nottinghamshire ones this year.”Notts v Som CC1 Day 3 26th Sep 2018“Winter well”

“Those modes of dismissal summed up the different characters of the bowling of Overton and Gregory. The one seemingly forcing his way through defences to snatch wickets. The other quietly purloining them from unwary batsmen.”Notts v Som CC1 Day 2 25th Sep 2018Business end

“This was Hildreth at his glorious, apparently carefree, but doubtless intensely focused best. As the clouds gathered in they might have been the chariots of gods come to see who was creating such perfection in the imperfect world below.”Notts v Som CC1 Day 1 24th Sep 2018Of genius and the sublime

“Somerset 4 for 2. And then Hildreth. Hildreth did what Hildreth does. An on driven boundary of perfection off his first ball.”
Som v Surrey CC1 Day 3 20 Sep 2018Fighting hard

“They be too good for we,” the comment from across the aisle. There was perhaps more truth in that than even the speaker, who I find to be perceptively knowledgeable about cricket, realised.”
Som v Surrey CC1 Day 2 19 Sep 2018Somerset under the weather

“Somerset in the field were exemplified by Abell at cover. I lost count of the number of times a ball flew off the bat with ‘four’ written all over it only to find itself snared by Abell’s electrifying dives.”Som v Surrey CC1 Day 1 18 Sep 2018Surrey on the road

“If momentum means anything we have a chance,” someone said, and Somerset had picked up momentum at the end of the Sussex innings as fast as the Bungee Blast was shooting people into the air. Whether Somerset could turn the match on its head as the bungee did its rotating victims was another matter.”
Som v Sussex T20 SF 15 Sep 2018 All Wright on the night

“When you are at a match and a Test-class fast bowler gets it right at pace and settles into a wicket-taking rhythm in helpful conditions on a helpful pitch it is as if a force of nature has been unleashed on the batsmen.”
Hants v Som CC1 Day 2 11 Sep 2018A test of class

“On the way back to the car my white wyvern hat attracted another Somerset supporter. It does that. “38 for 3 the last I heard,” he said, “What is going on?” “It’s worse than that,” I replied, “we were 72 for 5 at Lunch.” It was worse than that. “Not us. Them,” he replied. “They are 38 for 3. We were 106 all out.”
Hants v Som CC1 Day 1 10 Sep 2018Seam from a distance

“I don’t know how much apprehension a human being is supplied with at birth but I have used up enough to fill one of those super tankers that are so difficult to to turn around just watching Somerset.”
Som v Lancs CC1 Day 2 5 Sep 2018Four days tied up in two

“After Lunch, Leach got to work. He started to pick away at the batsmen like an examiner picks away at students who have not done their revision.”
Som v Lancs CC1 Day 1 4 Sep 201822 wickets and 298 runs in Stygian Gloom

“To see one Overton in full flow is a sight worth the seeing. To see both in full flow and in tandem is a sight to treasure.”Yorks v Som CC1 Day 4 1 Sep 2018Yorkshire outpaced

“The Yorkshire crowd cannot be faulted for its impartiality when judging the cricket. Even a loud lbw appeal against Hildreth playing well forward met with the response, “No. Thee can’t gi’ that. He’s too far forrard.”Yorks v Som CC1 Day 3 31 Aug 2018Perfect day

“The comments of opposition supporters, as a match unfolds, sit on the opposite end of the emotional seesaw to where your own feelings sit. At Headingley the frequency of the comments keeps the seesaw constantly in motion.”
Yorks v Som CC1 Day 2 30 Aug 2018Not too bad a day

“The gentlest of gentle bat movements produced rocket like power in the ball as it skimmed the outfield and crossed the boundary directly in front of me. “Just look at that,” another Yorkshire voice drooled.”
Yorks v Som CC1 Day 1 29 Aug 2018Cavalcade

“It was as if the Gillette Cup had passed through a time warp and come to visit. The atmosphere had the feel of those days again. And the match had the feel of the great cup runs of the 70s and 80s.”
Som v Notts T20 QF 27 Aug 2018Gregory’s game

“This was a significant victory not just in the context of this season but in marking the continuing development of what has the potential to become one of the all-time great Somerset teams, perhaps, just perhaps, the greatest of them all.”
Som v Essex CC1 Day 4 22 Aug 2018A match for the ages

“The Essex horse was loose in the paddock with no-one apparently able to close the gate other than Leach and it is too big a job for one man.”
Som v Essex CC1 Day 3 21 Aug 2018Of stable doors

“Davey has emerged as a genuine front line bowler to be reckoned with this season. No longer a man dependent on April green tops for his wickets. The ball with which he bowled Westley was as good as any you will see.”
Som v Essex CC1 Day 2 20 Aug 2018Bowled over

“The talk at the back of the Somerset Pavilion (elevated) was of Peter Wight. Of Peter Wight and Fred Trueman. Of the day in 1962 when Fred Trueman arrived late for the Championship match at Taunton and was sent home by the Yorkshire captain for his pains.”Som v Essex CC1 Day 1 19 Aug 20181962 all over again

“As I left after the match I spoke to a couple who might have watched Somerset in the 1950s and probably did. Neither of them had ever watched T20 before. “A great match,” they said, “and the fielding is a level above.”
Sur’y v Som T20 S Group 10 Aug 2018A stellar match

“Van de Merwe examined the batsmen with the accuracy of a dentist probing with a drill. He imposed the same disinclination to make any rash movements on the batsmen as a dentist does on a patient.”
Hants v Som T20 S Group 8 Aug 2018A Rye look at the cricket

“The light relented and after Tea out into this frozen wasteland the rules of cricket demanded the players return.”
Som v Yorks CC1 Day 2 29 Apr 2018Somerset’s Arctic expedition

” There is no need to use superlatives because it was a superlative innings full of its own superlatives.”
Som v Yorks CC1 Day 1 28 Apr 2018A century for lunch

I remember watching Basil D’Oliviera play and not just at the end of his career. Now I was watching his grandson. ‘Fugit inreparabile tempus’ as Virgil had it. ‘It escapes, irretrievable time” as the all-knowing internet translates it.”
Som v Worcs CC1 Day 3 22 Apr 2018 At last

“One of the things about catching up on 43 years while trying to watch the cricket is you miss the odd thing. Sometimes you miss a year, sometimes you miss a wicket. I missed Abell’s.”
Som v Worcs CC1 Day2 21 Apr 2018Hildreth takes it away

“The first day of Somerset’s 2018 season. It started disastrously. The patisserie on Paddington Station where I used to start my journeys to Taunton during the years of my eastern exile had gone.”
Som v Worcs CC1 Day 1 20 Apr 2018Renshaw drives hard